How to calculate nutrition

[mlichtfu]

Hey everyone,

I am a little confused by the nutrition guide. So I am looking at the portion control approach. I am debating level 2 and 3 but that's for a different time. My question is how do I determine which group it falls into. So for example, if I eat an energy bar, it has protein and it has carbs, which one does it go by. Also if I use Whey protein that obviously goes in the protein section but do I use whatever the serving size is?


Now on to snacks, does that only mean the drinks and the protein bar? What if I want celery but then does that fall into my vegetables?

The same thing with dairy. I have been reading a lot of the posts and they said I can use 1% chocolate milk as a recovery drink. Now does that also go towards my dairy or just snacks? Now I am confused.

Also on the subject of whey powder. Are they all created equal? I saw some at Wal Mart that didn't look very expensive at all. Is there anything I should be looking for specifically?

Thanks

Mike

[scourtney7]

Mike - I think that the energy bar is considered a snack (at least that is what I consider it when I eat it). I only count foods in the base groups if its primary composition is that base. that is, i only count meat and meat subs as protein, i only count veggies as veggies. As far as the Whey protein goes, I typically use GNC Whey 100% and I count one scoop as one serving of protein. I think that when looking for a whey protein you need to know your goals. Are you trying to shed lots of body fat (phase I of the plan) or are you more into the maintenance phase. Various whey proteins have varying levels of carbs in them and I think that you want to be wary of that when purchasing. Also do your research to ensure that the protein powder contains the type of whey that your body can use at the times when you will be consuming it. Just my 2 cents.....I am sure many others will have more to say. As far as nutrition goes, I find that eating whole clean foods (foods as close to their natural state and with as little processing involved), the easier it is to figure out what category it fits into and the better it is for your body! Hope that helps.


Shannon

[JimNAZ]

Hi Mike,

I would also suggest trying to keep an exact list of everything you eat for at least a week. There are many free websites where you can log all your food intake and it will breakdown everything showing cals, fat, carbs and protein. This will help keep you in the fat/carb/protein ratios that you need depending on what you are following.
I use dailyburn.com and it has helped a lot! (Really opens your eyes about what you are eating . . .)

Good luck

Jim

[mlichtfu]

I have been looking at Dailyburn. I think that's the one I will go with. You know many people spoke about the ratios, but I don't think I saw that in the books. Is there a specific ratio for someone trying to lose weight in phase I?

Mike

[Dave]

Mike - Make sure you look over the word documents here: http://www.thefitclubnetwork.com/2009/01/p90x-nutrition-plan-made-easy/.

For example, one serving of protein is 100 calories, so if your protein shake is 200 calories then it is 2 proteins. I'd count the bars as a snack. If they are over 200 calories then they are counted as a double snack. The snacks are pretty flexible. Again, look over the word document for your Phase. If the snack isn't on the list, then count it as whatever it is.

Jim raises a great point. If your goal is to simply eat healthy, then you can follow this and check off the boxes. If you want to maintain the ratios then you'll need to track things. The reason is that we are all eating different foods. If you eat a banana instead of some strawberries you will be getting a lot more carbs, even though both fall into the "fruit" category.

Dave

[oceanid]

Hi Mike,

From what I understand, if you are taking the portion approach you count each thing for exactly what it is in the guide.

To use your example of a protein bar, the guide says that if you have the word "bar" in your snack section that you count that as that item; a protein bar "snack". Protein bars are not listed in the actual protein section, do not count them as a protein. They are not listed in the carb section, do not count them as a carb. They are listed as the "bar" snack, count it as the bar snack. Same thing with your recovery drink; yes, it is mostly carbs/protein but it is counted as the recovery drink in the snack section --not as a carb and not as a protein.

Since you are also allowed a snack, do not try to classify that as anything other than a snack. So if you have celery and p-nut butter you know that is a low carb + fat but that makes no difference. No matter if it is more leaning towards a carbohydrate or a protein, count it as a snack.

The protein section does count "protein drinks" as a protein but also tells us that each serving of protein is 100 calories. So, if your protein drink has, for example, 200 calories then count that as 2 protein servings. Don't worry if it is a little over the 200 or a little under.

As far as the recovery drink goes, I personally use Biotest Surge, which is excellent and specifically made for this purpose. I would recommend choosing a drink that is specific to the purpose as they are formulated precisely to fill the requirements of muscle repair and recovery. You may wish to ask Dave about the P90x Recovery Drink as I am sure it is excellent. I know others use combinations of milk or orange juice and the like to acheive this but I cannot attest to the effectiveness of doing it this way.

Without getting in too deeply, whey powders are not created equal. Make sure what you are buying is whey protein "isolate" as some are blends or concentrations. Isolate is the purest and easiest to digest. I drink alot of protein so flavor is very important to me. I've tried many of them and I love Dymatize Elite which runs in the neighborhood of $35-$40 at Vitamin Shoppe for a huge 5 lb container of about 77 servings. I have not tried or reviewed the nutritional content of the P90x brand yet but I think I saw that Dave is giving out free samples for a limited time if you contact him through email.

Lastly, I would recommend plugging all of your portions into a food tracking system like Livestrong.com's Daily Plate so that you are matching nutritional ratios to the recommended amounts in the program you are doing. I've found that choosing the foods I do that my ratios were off in the portion approach. I think it is really important especially that you are meeting your protein needs and this is one way to do it that you can be certain you are.

Best of luck to you.

[InnerStrength]

I have been looking at Dailyburn. I think that's the one I will go with. You know many people spoke about the ratios, but I don't think I saw that in the books. Is there a specific ratio for someone trying to lose weight in phase I?

Mike

Hey Mike!

Dave could tell you, at the start of my P90X (82 days ago), I was super stressin' over the meal planning. I still watch Monica's youtube from the nutrition advice blog to remind myself not to make it so difficult. I PROMISE, it does it get easier! Good for you for sticking with it and asking the ?'s.

I use MyFitnessPal.com for tracking food online and on my iphone found it to be super easy and lots of foods in its database.

As far as the ratios, they're on Page 2 of the Nutrition Plan book. . . I had that exact question about two weeks ago :)

I found that using the portion (check box) approach (which there's also an iphone app for) was the easiest and ends up being pretty right on. Like someone has already suggested, I count my recovery drink as a "shake" and a bar because it's higher in calories and I'm not starving anyway. . . it's all relative. Making sure I get all of the proteins in their basic form is what I've focused on (I'm not much of a carb craver). . . my point, as long as you're eating clean, and getting enough food (i.e. no bonking, not starving between meals) it'll all be good!

Again, it does get easier! :)

Cel

[mlichtfu]

Thanks Cel. That helps a lot. I will double check with page 2. I didn't see it the first few times, but I have been a little overwhelmed with everything.

Thanks

Mike

[JimNAZ]

Hey Mike, take it from some one who is very analytical (me) trying to understand everything about nutrition was very stressful at first. Break it down where it is easy for YOU to understand and follow it that way. There are a lot of good tips and points to keep in mind that have been mentioned in this thread.
The tracking of everything with a program fits my personallity and needs. At some point you will get a good grasp of what YOU need for success and it will come more natural where you will not need the tracker program as much or at all. (Except if you try a new food or meal.) Don't freak (;)) when you first start out tracking everything. It can feel overwhelming and you might get discouraged, Just hang in there for at least a week. It is great to look back and see exactly where the macronutrients fell in reference to numbers.
* As an example - I am trying to keep my carb grams down around 100-125 a day (for now). As mentioned in this thread, not all fruit is created equal. I love bananas and have at least 1 (if not more) a day. Well I started to track my food again this week and saw that half of my total carbs for the day was from my bananas!!! Needless to say I made a change . . .

As mentioned there are options for what program you use. Just pick one that works for you. Daily Burn also has an app but what I really like about one option they offer (and this could be common with all programs) is that you can create recipes and share with the daily Burn community. It's great because you do not have to search for each food item for a meal and your friends can use the same recipe (you name it something and then they search for that name). I have many "meals" as recipes so all I have to do is click and it logs it! I highly suggest this with any program that offers it. It will save you lots of time!

Jim

[mlichtfu]

Thanks for the info everyone.